UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Downgrades Spirit Realty Capital to Hold on Post-Merger Share Run-Up.

Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Spirit Realty Capital

from Buy to Hold and removed the price target of $18.50. Stifel Nicolaus commented, "Spirit Realty recently announced plans to merge with non-traded Cole Credit REIT II in an all-stock deal. Although the acquisition alleviates some of Spirits major post-IPO concerns (namely, tenant concentration, lack of scale, levered balance sheet, and higher cost of capital than peers), the deal is not only not accretive to earnings and cash flow, but should make future growth more difficult (due to a larger entity). While we think the deal is a positive for Spirit, the recent share price run-up largely reflects these benefits, and we are downgrading the shares from Buy to Hold." Spirit Realty Capital closed at $20.11 on Friday.